News Update

Snow has arrived here in the Black Forest. The attached photo was taken by one of our guests on the Feldberg last week. In the far distance is a clear view of the snow-capped Swiss Alps and on the Feldberg itself there was sufficient snow for skiing to have begun.
In Haus Barnabas we are engrossed in preparations for Christmas and also for the on-going work in 2010. We are planning for a Carol service in our lounge on Sunday evening which will be mainly in German but including well know English carols and are also busy printing our own Black Forest calendar which also includes information about the house particularly for those thinking of visiting next year. We are happy to send a copy of this to you without charge on request either by email to len.holder@haus-barnabas.com or by telephone in the UK to Rosemary Edwards on 01227 363857.
Len & Phyl plan to be in England again in January and all are invited to our 'Reunion' meeting at Stanmore Chapel, Marsh Lane, HA7 4HP on Saturday afternoon 23rd January, commencing at 14.30.

News update

During November Len & Phyl have been in Britain. It has been good to spend time with friends in different parts of the country, to take in Bible ministry for our own souls and enjoy Christian fellowship. However in these days of computers and the internet our office comes effectively with us and we have spent many hours preparing a power point presentation of the work and also a brochure/calendar for 2010, as well as catching up with some correspondance.
Our travels have taken us virtually the full length of Britain, from the south where we had the privilege of sharing about Haus Barnabas at a men (and women's) breakfast in the parish church hall in Patcham, to the north where after catching up our friends in the Baptist Church at Langley Park, Durham with the Lord's blessing on us in 2009, we were taken to see parts of the old Hadrian's wall, albeit in pouring rain! Among several highlights of our UK visit was a second annual reunion with friends in Yorkshire at Bethel Hall, Otley, and the kind hospitality of David & Margaret Harman in Ashford, who not only allowed us to use their home as a base and office but also welcomed various of our friends who came from quiet long distances to see us there.
The picture shows David and Margaret with granddaughter Grace during an October visit to Utzenfeld.

News update

Emily, seen here with Tom & Esther, has been a tremendous help to us in the house since the end of August. She is on a gap year before going on the study German and philosophy and when she leaves us during this month she will be working to raise funds for a three month stint in Uganda in a mission school with Mission Direct.
The Scripture text for our Sunday service was from Isaiah 30:18 - The Lord will wait that He may be gracious to you ... blessed are all those who who wait for Him. Often the Lord doesn't seem to be in hurry to answer our prayers but He knows the very best time seen from the many vantage points which He alone has access to. These words of promise are set within a chapter warning of the foolishness and sin of making our own plans and using our own initiative without reference to God and His word. Our deliverance and salvation is in returning to Him in restful trust when we will then find our strength through quiet peace and confidence in Him. (v 15).
November is a quiet time in Haus Barnabas as far as guests are concerned and Len and Phyl have various appointments in England.

News update

This past week has seen more activity in our garden than for any other week we've been here. We're extremely grateful to Andy Ninnis for his skill and hard work in rebuilding the 2 metre high dry stone wall which collapsed some months ago. (see picture). With his father's help he also felled six largish trees to let more sunshine into the garden and brought to light the old bowling alley of by-gone years. Peter Ninnis also contributed significantly to the spiritual ministry of the house in giving us an encouraging exposition of the book of Habakkuk in four sessions, which were ably interpreted into German by Deb. A full house of guests, including our Hungarian friend Gabriel and a local German bus driver appreciated this ministry greatly.
Also this week we have finalised arrangements with 'charitycards.co.uk' for the sale of Christmas cards with the Haus Barnabas logo which we would like to recommend for your interest as an additional way of supporting our work and ministry. The cards can be bought online through

www.mycharitycards.co.uk/haus-barnabas

News update

We had a friend with us this past week whom we hadn't seen for 26 years. He very kindly told us we hadn't changed at all in the intervening period and wanted a few pictures of us. We've made one of them our blog picture for this week! At the end of this month we have a break from guests for a few weeks and are travelling across to Britain. We hope to get a bit of relaxation but have a guest reunion meeting in Otley, Yorkshire on 14th Nov - come and enjoy a Black Forest tea and an update on news and information - all are welcome, past guests, future guests and interested friends. See more information alongside here on blog spot. We also have a meeting at Langley Park, Durham on 17th and are speaking at a parish breakfast in Patcham, Sussex on 21st and at Herne Bay, Kent on 1st Dec.

News Update

Tom having enrolled for a second year of football training in the village is now playing short matches in the junior team against other local villages on a series of Saturday mornings this autumn. As the picture shows he is very proud of his kit, supplied by the village and with 'Utzenfeld' blazed across his back, and also his first real football boots. For his weekly training he wears an England shirt!! What will happen if he's ever chosen to represent the national German team?

This week we are providing the venu for the Utzenfeld pensioners' club's monthly meeting. This now happens several times a year. We provide food and drink and get to hear all the local gossip. This contact has also helped a number of the older folk to feel more comfortable about coming into our 'evangelical Christian' house. Some now come fairly regularly to our café and we were delighted when eight from the village came to the Marilyn Baker concert in September.

The second half of October becomes busier with guests before Len & Phyl come across to England in November. See details of our 'northern reunion' opposite.

News Update

On Sunday our worship service concentrated on thanksgiving for harvest and all God's visible, material gifts to us. We noticed however that in Psalm 65 David praises God for both material and spiritual blessings and that the New Testament shows us that God's invisible blessings are eternal and therefore more important than His material blessings. (2 Cor 4:18). Our very simple harvest display, seen in the picture, illustrate His visible gifts given for the good of our bodies. They come to us with God's love, but the greatest demonstration of his love is His gift to us of His Son Jesus, through whom He gives us eternal life. When we know and receive this gift we begin to know God Himself, which should bring us to the position where we can be happy in Him whether the material gifts are there or not. The prayer of the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk illustrates this. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
After the service 17 of us enjoyed a fellowship lunch together.
Martin Leech from the European Missionary Fellowship was visiting us for the weekend and in our evening fellowship we valued hearing about EMF and its work. This led us into a time of earnest prayer for a movement of the Holy Spirit in revival across Europe and also more specificially in the lives of those we ourselves know and love.